Polarbeers: “Musica o morte!”
In the year of our Lord 2007, somewhere on the outskirts of Milan, Italy, three friends decide to start making music. And from those first moments on, their intention was to become the best hardcore punk band the city had ever known. But unfortunately the line-up problems started very quickly and due to this and a shift in interests they drifted towards psychedelica and stoner with an intense pop sensibility. Founder and the only original member left: ‘Fox’ talks about the tumultuous history of the Polarbeers.
“Man, we sort of stopped existing several times. There have been so many different drummers, guitarists and bassplayers that it’s hard keeping count. But with bassist Stefano Trulla from Flight Solitude, guitarist Giulia Paggiarin and drummer Minus Mora from Back At The Garage / Trust No One we found our first reasonably stable line-up. Those were the four that recorded the Everywhere But Home EP. After which Giulia quit for personal reasons. The three of us continued on and recorded the second EP called Tetris. But after that Stefano also decided to leave the nest…”
Paulo Siepi
This time however it took a little while longer before the band was back on a righteous track. Fox found release with his old grunge band Insect Kin and drummer Minus with his other bands. Only after Fox had recovered from surgery on his vocal chords did they decide that the Polarbeers should stomp on and they started seeking a new bassplayer. After a few other scurvy rats they found the definitive replacement early 2012 in the form of Paulo Siepi. “Paul has the same mentality as us. The only thing that counts is music. He even sort of quit his job for it.” “I was work as a it-specialist for a fairly big company,” Paul starts, “but had to travel a lot every day and work long hours. I started to not have any fun in life anymore. So I thought, fuck it. I quit. And now I have a much more relaxed job, which gives me a lot of free time for music. We will see where the wind takes us.”
Heartache
But that’s how all three of the gentlemen think about life. It is music or nothing. “You know,” Fox starts confessing, “music has kept me going when I was going through a very difficult period. Huge troubles of the heart my friend. That might sound hopelessly dramatic or silly. But for a few months I did absolutely nothing but wake up, grab my guitar, play a little, go get something to eat and drink, play some more, sleep and wake up. If I hadn’t had my guitar I would have probably ended up in the gutter. So I sort of feel obligated to the music, I want to do something back for my salvation.”
“I won’t go as far as Fox here,” Minus explains, “I’m a realist and know that it is almost impossible to make a living in Italy by playing music. Especially with our kind of music. But thanks to the music and especially punk music I became who I am. It gives you a better mentality about life. You appreciate the good things of life much more and see much easier what it is really about. And that is definitely not all the rubbish the politicians keep uttering.” “Exactly,” Fox adds, “Minus is an optimistic realist and I am a romantic fool. But music is the only think in the current day and age that makes me feel anything. I feel very apathetic about all the other things the other people are concerned about. The world is a wicked and corrupt place that has started to revolve about all kinds of things that should not really matter. And Italy might even be an exponent of that. That’s why we escape through our music. It is music or death.” Paul: “Musica o morte!”
And soon the guys will enter the studio to record their first full-sized album. Let’s keep an eye on these freaks!
